Week 2 blog challenge: meaning behind blog name

The meaning behind my blog name....hmmm....i have decided to take the challenge of reading the top 100 novels of all time. The blog name, cent livres, translates to "100 books" in french. which, if you know me, you know I'm obsessed with anything french :) This blog will be filled with my opinions of these novels while reading them, as well as some random blogs (such as this one), and possibly some personal blogs in between. Did that even make sense? ha. well, I'm slacking on reading Gone With the Wind due to way too much traveling! But i will get back to it asap. At the rate I'm going, I won't finish it until summer! ha. wish me luck, and feel free to add to my list :)

I dunno

I haven't gotten too far into Gone With the Wind, but so far so good! As I was reading, I noticed the usage of "i dunno". This really surprised me. For some reason, I thought "dunno" was a recent word, I had no idea it has been used for so many years!

Before starting this book, I figured it would be pretty tough reading, but its actually fairly easy, just very long. I am soooo glad that I haven't seen the movie (I know, I know, what kind of girl am I???). I don't think I would enjoy it near as much if I already knew the ending.

We had Christmas yesterday with my mom, step dad, and brother in Kentucky. I received three new books, none of which are on my list. I may have to take a break after Gone With the Wind and read one of my new books :) Oh, and p.s. no Kindle for Christmas yet :( My library should be pretty full by the end of 2011! Well, off to pack up for our trip home tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get lots of reading done on the plane :)

Week One of Blog Challenge

Week One: Introduce Yourself, Recent Picture, 15 Interesting Facts....

My name is Danielle Renee Taylor. I am 27 years old (blah!). I

live in New Braunfels, Texas; I used to hate it, but now I love it :) I'm married to Michael Taylor, we've been married for 5 years and have been together for 10. I graduated from Texas Tech in 2005 with a Bachelor's in Human Development and Family Studies. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up! I am hop

ing that I will find the job of my dreams SOON haha

. I have 3 dogs and no kids. Although I'm being pressured by everyone in my life to work on that :p

I think this is the most recent photo I've taken (except for a family photo shoot with my family, but we haven't received those yet)....

This was at Kork, a wine bar in New Braunfels. We were playing trivia and wanted antlers. i guess.

15 interesting facts....

1. I love cold weather and I would move to a freezing cold state in a heartbeat.

2. I have the best friends in the entire world and I feel very blessed to have them in my life. Funny thing is, none of them really even know each other. I miss all of them dearly.

3. I love wrapping presents! (sorry jami, I had to put it too!) I love ribbons, bows, wrapping paper, gift tags, stamps, etc. I could spend hours wrapping gifts and be completely content.

4. I love traveling. Well, I guess everyone probably does. I am fortunate enough to have traveled to several different countries and states.

5. I have been through a lot in the past couple of years and I feel like a stronger, more confident, and more grateful woman because of it.

6. I cry very easily. I cry sad tears, happy tears, and the worst: MAD tears. I cry when I get mad or get my feelings hurt, and I HATE it. Especially when all I want to do is yell, but the only thing that comes out is crying. ugh. so annoying.

7. I can't believe all of my friends are having babies. I can't believe we're actually this old. I swear I feel like we're still in high school, having sleep overs and talking about boys.

8. I am very very shy when meeting new people. I actually kind of despise meeting new people.

9. I wish I was more creative than I am. I try, but creativity seems to be something that comes naturally, not something that can be learned. But I still attempt it :)

10. I miss living near family.

11. I love nail polish :)

12. I love my front porch. I love sitting out there in the morning with a cup of coffee, and at night with a glass of wine. It makes for great people watching :)

13. I'm in love with my ipod.

14. I hate hot drinks! I always burn my mouth. Iced is the way to go

15. My 15th interesting fact is that I had a really hard time coming up with 15 facts! lol

30 week blog challenge

After being asked by my bff to do a 30 week bog challenge with, I decided it was a great idea!

Here's the Challenge:

Week 1-Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts
Week 2-Meaning behind your blog name
Week 3-Your first love
Week 4-Your parents
Week 5-Your siblings
Week 6-A picture of something that makes you happy
Week 7-Favorite movies
Week 8-A place you've traveled to
Week 9-A picture of your friends
Week 10-Something you're afraid of
Week 11-Favorite tv shows
Week 12-What you believe
Week 13-Goals
Week 14-A picture you love
Week 15-Bible verse
Week 16-Dream house
Week 17-Something you're looking forward to
Week 18-Something you regret
Week 19-Something you miss
Week 20-Nicknames
Week 21-Picture of yourself
Week 22-Favorite city
Week 23-Favorite vacation
Week 24-Something you've learned
Week 25-Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs
Week 26-Picture of your family
Week 27-Pets
Week 28-Something that stresses you out
Week 29-3 Wishes
Week 30-a picture

What I'm Reading

So, I've been looking through 3 lists:

1) http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/ (The Board's List)

2) http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1951793,00.html

3) http://neilbowers.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/a-unified-list-of-the-best-100-novels/

After going back and forth, back and forth, BACK AND FORTH...i decided to go with the first list. And I'm replacing the last 9 novels with a few from the remaining 2 lists. In their place, I'll be reading:

Of Mice and Men-John Steinbeck

Les Miserables-Victor Hugo

Gone With the Wind-Margaret Mitchell

To Kill a Mockingbird-Harper Lee

Pride and Prejudice-Jane Austen

Wuthering Heights-Emily Bronte

Great Expectations-Charles Dickens

War and Peace-Leo Tolstoy

Atlas Shrugged-Ayn Rand

I suppose I should have posted this at the start of the blog, but it is what it is ;)

Basement Rummaging

While in Kentucky for the holidays, I decided to rummage through all of my mom's boxes of old books. I found tons of Danielle Steel, several Stephen King, and a plethora of children's books. But, among all of these, I found an old copy of Gone With the Wind, which happens to be on my list! I remember being a pre-teen and attempting to read this book. A thousand pages of literature at age 10?? I don't know what I was thinking, and needless to say, I never actually read the whole book. So, today, as I'm overwhelmed with nostalgia, I will begin (again) this challenge that I started 17 years ago :)

Slaughterhouse-Five

Slaughterhouse five. More like Slaughterhouse-BARF. I did not like this book. I have read Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut, and I LOVED it. But this book, which is supposed to be his best, was so boring. I just couldn't get into it. Its supposed to be sarcastically funny, which I normally love, but I never even laughed. I don't know, maybe it was all over my head? I was really hoping I would love this book as much as Timequake, but unfortunately that was not the case. So it goes...

I'm not sure which book I should read next; hopefully I will choose one that makes me want to finish the list :)